The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman Read Free Book Online Page A

had begotten a father upon his own daughter.

    "Fine men," muttered Bedwell. "Fine body of men."
    His eyes closed.
    "Go to sleep, sir," she whispered.
    "Don't tell her, Adelaide. Don't tell her about—what I said. She's an evil woman."
    "Yes, sir. . . ."
    Then he began to rave again, and the room filled up with ghosts and Chinese demons and visions of torture and poisoned ecstasy, and abysses yawned sickeningly below. Adelaide sat in the darkness, holding his hand and thinking.

    Messages
    Since the death of mr. higgs, life at the office had grown dull. The feud between the porter and Jim the office boy had petered out, the porter having run out of hiding places and Jim having run out of penny magazines; he had nothing better to do that afternoon, in fact, than to flick bits of paper, with an India rubber band, at the portrait of Queen Victoria over the fireplace of the porter's room.
    When Adelaide arrived and tapped on the glass, Jim took no notice at first. He was busy improving his aim. The old man opened the window and said, "Yus? What d'yer want?"
    "Miss Lx)ckhart," whispered Adelaide.
    Jim heard and looked up.
    "Miss Lockhart.^" said the porter. "You sure.^"
    She nodded.
    "What d'you want her for?" said Jim.
    "Never you mind, you weevil," said the old man.
    Jim flicked a scrap of paper at the porter's head and dodged the frail blow aimed at him in return.
    "If you got a message for Miss Lockhart, I'll take it," he said. "Come out here a minute."
    51

    He took Adelaide to the foot of the stairs, out of earshot of the porter.
    "What's yer name?" he said.
    "Adelaide."
    "What d'yer want Miss Lockhart for?"
    "I dunno."
    "Well, who sent yer?"
    "A gentleman."
    He bent closer to hear what she said, becoming conscious of the aroma of Holland's Lodgings about her clothes, and of dirty child about her. But he wasn't fussy, and he had remembered something important.
    "Did you ever hear," he said, "of something called the Seven Blessings?"
    In the past fortnight he had asked that of all kinds of people, except Mr. Selby; and he had always got the same response—no, they hadn't.
    But she had. She was frightened. She seemed to shrink inside her cloak, and her eyes became darker than ever.
    "What of it?" she whispered.
    "You have, ain't yer?"
    She nodded.
    "Well, what is it?" he went on. "It's important."
    "I dunno."
    "Where d'you hear of it?"
    She twisted her mouth and looked away. Two clerks came out of their office at the top of the stairs and saw them.
    " 'Ere," said one of them. "Look at young Jim court-
    ing.
    "Who's yer ladylove, Jim?" called the other.
    Jim looked up and released a jet of language that might

    have blistered a battleship. He was no respecter of clerks: they were a very low form of life.
    "Never mind them," he said to Adelaide. "Listen—you got to tell me about the Seven Blessings. There's a man died in here because of that."
    He told her what had happened. She did not look up, but her eyes widened.
    "I've got to look for Miss Lockhart, 'cause he said so," she said when he'd finished. "Only I mustn't tell Mrs. Holland, else she'll kill me."
    "Well, tell me what he bloody said! Go on!"
    She did—haltingly, little by little, for she had nothing of Jim's fluency, and she was so unused to being listened to that she hardly knew how loudly to speak. Jim had to prompt her to repeat much of it.
    "Right," he said eventually. "I'll fetch Miss Lockhart, and you can talk to her. All right.^"
    "I can't," she said. "I can't never get away except when Mrs. Holland sends me out. She'll kill me."
    "Course she won't bleeding kill yer! You'll have to come out, else—"
    "I canX "she said. "She killed the last little girl she had. She took all her bones out. She told me."
    "Well, how are you going to find Miss Lockhart, then?"
    "I dunno."
    "Oh, blimey. Well, look—I'll come through Wapping each night on me way home, and you meet me somewhere and tell me what's happened. Where can you meet me?"
    She looked down, twisting her